Intentions to Marry, 1896 July-December

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840410, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, June 11 2025

1896 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 293

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1896 Registrar J. W. Maullerson

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
306	20 July 1896	John Henry Toback Alice Laney	John Henry Tobeck Alice Leney 💍 1896/2441 John Brown Alice Lansley 💍 1897/4422	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Dressmaker	26 32	Christchurch Christchurch	26 years 10 years	Baptist Chapel, Oxford Terrace	96/3104		20 July 1896	Rev. J. J. Rolla, Baptist
307	20 July 1896	John Henry Howe Amy Leigh	John Henry Howe Amy Leigh 💍 1896/3721	Bachelor Spinster	Mechanic Tailoress	24 23	Christchurch Christchurch	6 months 6 months	House of Rev. G. Howe, Nursery, Riccarton	96/4753		20 July 1896	Rev. G. W. Isitt, Wesleyan
308	20 July 1896	Charles Alfred Murphy Mary Thatford	Charles Alfred Murphy Mary Shatford 💍 1896/2197	Bachelor Spinster	Painter Dressmaker	21 20	Christchurch Christchurch	1 year 20 years	Bible Christian Minister's House, Lower High St.	96/3060	Joseph Thatford, Father	20 July 1896	Rev. J. Orchard, Methodist
309	21 July 1896	Frederic Ryde Jessie Davis	Frederick Ryde Jessie Davis 💍 1896/2243	Bachelor Spinster	Sheeter Domestic	24 18	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 18 years	St. Andrews Church	96/3080	Benjamin Davis, Father	21 July 1896	Rev. G. Webster, Presbyterian
310	23 July 1896	James William Rodgerson Alston Elizabeth Anne Preston	James William Rogerson Alston Elizabeth Anna Priston 💍 1896/4895	Bachelor Spinster	Cooper Machinist	25 25	Christchurch Christchurch	15 years 25 years	House of Mr. Jas. Alston, Antigua St.	96/3943		23 July 1896	Rev. F. Plumble, Presbyterian
311	23 July 1896	Henry Trott Hodges Sarah Elizabeth Hodges	Henry Trott Sarah Elizabeth Hodges 💍 1896/2127	Widower Spinster		65 39	Christchurch Sydney	36 years	Registrar's Office	96/3032		23 July 1896	Registrar, Marriages, J. W. Maullerson
312	23 July 1896	Joseph Ashcroft Hazard Mary Ann Hazard	Joseph Ashcroft Mary Ann Hazard 💍 1896/2128	Widower Spinster	Housekeeper	37 32	Christchurch Christchurch	19 years 32 years	Registrar's Office	96/3033		23 July 1896	Registrar, Marriages, J. W. Maullerson

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1901. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).